File.



No. 832,549. 7 PATENTED OCT. 2, 1906.

' A. E. LANDON.

FILE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.16. 1906.

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WITNESSES INVENTOR W (RAW Siwwpm/ W BY ATTORNEY nu norm: v-zrnrs co., wnsumarou, n. c.

UNITED sr 'rns PATENT orrroa.

ASA E. LANDON, OF CANTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

FILE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 2,1906.

Application filed January 16, 1906. Serial No. 296,383.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ASA E. LANDON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Canton, in the county of Bradford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Files, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in filing devices intended more particularly for the reception and preservation of the salesslips used by merchants in transacting business with their credit customers and the object of the invention is to provide certain improvements in the file described in Letters Patent No. 800,858, granted to myself and Warren F. Beck and bearing date October 3, 1905. In the file as described in said Letters Patent the compartments are made shorter than the slips which are to be filed therein, thereby exposing to view one entire end of the slips, whereon are written .the customers name and a statement of his account, these slips wheninserted in the file in their proper compartments constituting an alphabetically-arranged ledger. As the customers names are written upon the slips in pencil by various clerks when taking the customers orders, these names as they appear in the file are in the handwriting of different persons, and by reason of the hurried manner in which they are written are more or less illegible. It is therefore desirable that each customers compartment shall be provided with some means for displaying in uniform andclear lettering the customers name, and, if desired, his house or business addressor other index matter. Another undesirable feature in the exposing of the entire end portion of the slips is the liability of the slips to become roughed up in going over the ledger, thereby causing them to present amussy appearance, and also rendering them liable to become torn, since they are held down only in the center, where the retaining-bar presses upon them. To overcome these objectionable features, each compartment in this improved file will be provided with a labeling or index member, which may be formed by or attached to the division flaps or partitions or inserted separately in the compartments above the sales-slips. These index members will extend to the top of the sales-slips, so as to cover and conceal the slips except as to that portion upon which is written the statement of the customers account.

ing the bail in its A further object is to provide an arrangement of the retaining bar or bail whereby springs will be dispensed with and positive pressure will be applied to the bars to cause them to bear upon the compartments,said bars being arranged tobear upon the index members of the compartments to press them upon the underlying slips.

The above objects are attained by constructing the file in the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a plan view of one leaf of a filing-case embodying these improvements with a second leaf hinged thereto at the right-hand side and shown in longitudinal section; Fig. 2, a transverse section of the same on the line as as; Fig. 3, a detail on larger scale to illustrate the manner of lockretaining position and swinging it away from the compartments to clear the file contents. Fig. 4 represents a customary form of sales-slip intended for use in connection with this file; Fig. 5, an individual name-card and cash-payment account adapted to be used as the index memberin connection with this file; Fig. 6, a plan view of one of the individual compartment fiaps orpar-titions with the index member formed integrally therewith; Fig. 7, a detail-showing a sectional view of a modified form of the compartment flaps or partitions, wherein clamps are provided for the attachment thereto of separate index members in the form of cards narrower than the compartments and having the name orother index matter displayed thereon, as in the lower right-hand compartment in Fig. 1.

Like letters of reference designate like parts in the several views.

The file as herein illustrated consists of leaves A A, hinged together, each leaf comprising a shallow rectangular tray or receptacle formed of wood or other material of suitable lightness and strength. Running longitudinally through the center of each leaf is a channel-piece C, composed, preferably, of sheet metal bent into the form illustrated. In the longitudinal divisions formed by said strip are arranged a series of compartments formed by the overlapping flaps B, each flap in a series projecting a short distance beyond the next overlying flap and forming a compartment in which may be placed the salesslips belonging to any given customer as they are made out from time to time in the course of business transactions. These flaps are preferably formedfrom cartridge-paper and applied to the receptacles in the manner described in the Letters Patent aforesaid.

The retaining-bars D are of stiff wire bent in the form of bails and hinged at one end to the leaves A by means of outturned projections E, slipped into corresponding sockets provided at one end of the leaves. At the other end these bails are provided with hooked portions F, which pass through sta les or eyes G, attached to the end or to the bottom of the receptacle. These staples or eyes are positioned, preferably, directly oposite the hinge projections E, and the ooked arms of thebails are of such a len th that when a bail is thrown over upon the filecompartments and the hooked portion pushed through the eye to a greater or less extent, as. indicated by the broken lines in Fig. 3, pressure will be exerted upon the bail to press. it upon the compartments. To form a bearing for the hooked end of the bails, the channeLpieces C will preferably have the flanges at that end bent down upon theback of the receptacle, as shown at 0, thus interposing a metal strip between the hooked end of the bails and the back of the receptacle.

To throw a bail away from the compartments, the hookedend is drawn out until the bend of the hook will swing around in the eye G, as shown in full lines in Fig. 3, after which the bail is thrown over into the channel 0, as shown at? the left-hand side of Figs. 1 and 2, they return-bend of the bail-hook being of a length sufficient to prevent the bail from being freed from the eye G when laid over in this open position, as will be seen more clearly from an inspection of the left-hand bail in Fig. 2. If desired, both ends of the bail may be provided with this hooked connection.

In the lower left-hand corner of the file in Fig. 1 the compartment flap or partition B is shown cut shorter than the sales-slips, as in the aforesaid Letters Patent; but below the flap there is inserted an index member in the form of a card J of stiff paper or cardboard, as shown in full in Fi 5, said card being of the same size as the slips and having a head portion I provided where it projects above the flap B for the insertion of a customers name and, if desired, his address or other index matter. This card has a corner cut out at H, so as to ex ose the items entered in the upperright-han corner of the salesslips, and may be ruled off with lines and; columns headed by the words Date and Paid, wherein will be entered the payments made on account by the customer, together with the date of payment. It then becomes a record of such payments on account, while the slips filed beneath give the record of the credit transactions, the uppermost slip showing through the cut-out corner the balance due on the account at any time. Thus the up- 6 permost slip in the R. O. Dunn account where exposed shows that there was brought forward from the preceding slip a total charge of three dollars and ten cents, that the items charged on said uppermost slip amounted to one dollar and fifty-five cents, and that the total account amounts to four dollars and sixty-five cents. If a payment in full of the account is made, this item of four dollars and sixty-five cents, with date of payment, will be entered on the card J, as shown, and to re-- move the charge from the slips a cash-slip will be inserted, having entered in the ex posed space the $4.65 as brought forward and underneath it the payment item of $4.65, which deducted from the amount brought forward will show in the third place of entry that the total account has been balanced off. By keeping a tabulated statement of the payments on account upon the separate card J the merchant is enabled to tell at a glance the total payments made by the customer and the dates when paid, and therefore is kept informed of the amount of any customers business during .a year or other period of time and is also informed as to his habits and promptness in making payments. In the name-space at the head of this card will be written in legiblewriting substantially uniform with the headings of the other compartments of the file the customers name, so that no difficulty will be had in finding any given customers account in the file. Moreover, this projecting head portion of the card lies over and protects the ends of the sales-slips and when pressed down by the retaining-bar prevents the upper edges of the slips from being roughed up or torn in handling the file. These cards may of course be prepared to receive other items of entry than the above. When a customer's account is closed, his card and slips will be removed, and it is a simple matter to open a new account with a new customer by writing the appropriate index or name words upon this exposed space of a new card and insertalphabetical or numerical position in the files.

These payment-cards will be filed away with the slips or destroyed with them when the account is finally closed or in a long running account may be replaced by fresh cards at any desirable periods. Where these paymentcards are not to be used, or if the merchant prefers it in conjunction with said cards, the compartment flaps or partitions may themselves constitute the index members by having the head portions I formed integrally therewith, as shown in Fig. 6, the name of the customer being written thereon or written on a separate piece of paper or card and pasted or otherwise fastened thereon, as indicated at I in the upper left-hand compartments of the file, the underlying slips being exposed by the cut-away corner at H. It may be desirable to have these index-heads I hinged to the top of the flaps, as indicated at I, where the Charles Adams slips appear. This enables the merchant or his bookkeeper to fold back the head portion, so as to expose the upper ends of the underlying slips for the purpose of running them over with the fingers to check up the items upon preceding slips or when carrying forward the footings of one or more slips in writing up the days accounts. The hinge for this form of the index member may be of cloth or thin leather pasted at the back of the flap and this head portion.

As a still further modification of the device the flaps or partitions B may be provided at their upper ends with spring-clips L, as shown in the lower right-hand compartment of the file and in Fig. 7, said spring-clips being adapted to receive and firmly hold a card upon which is written the a propriate heading or. index matter and w 'ch then constitutes the index member. This form may be found convenient where accounts are frequently changing. Other modifications may be devised for this index member, and its a plication is not to be confined to the specific form of file having expansible or hinged flaps, as herein described.

What is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with a file comprising a plurality of filing-compartments arranged in series with each compartment in a series projecting beyond the next, of an index member for each compartment projecting beyond the compartment and exposing to view a certain portion only of the uppermost of the con tents thereof.

2. The combination, with a file comprising a plurality of filing-compartments arranged in series with each compartment in a series projecting beyond the next, of an index memher for each compartment projecting beyond the compartment and cut away at one side to expose to view a portion of the underlying contents of the compartment,

3. The combination, with a file comprising a plurality of filing-compartments arranged in series with each compartment in a series projecting beyond the next, of an index member for each compartment comprising a card adapted to be inserted in a compartment, said card when in place projecting beyond the compartment and concealing all but a portion of the underlying contents thereof.

4. The combination, with a file of the type described, of an index-card provided with a head portion adapted to project above the top of a compartment when inserted therein, said head portion being partially cut away to expose a portion of the underlying contents of the compartment and the body of the card being ruled off to receive items of entry thereon.

5. The combination, with afile of the type described, of an index member provided with a head portion adapted to roject above the top of a compartment, sai head portion being partially cut away to ex ose a portion of the underlying contents of t e compartment.

6. The combination, with a file comprising a plurality of overlying compartments arranged in series with each compartment in a series projecting beyond the next, of a retain- I lng-bar comprising a hinged bail adapted to be swung over or away from the compartments, one end of said bail being bent into the form of a hook, an eye through which the hook passes at one end of the series of compartments, and a bearing to receive the hook when pushed through the eye to press the bail upon the compartments.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ASA E. LANDON. Witnesses:

A. S. DIVEN,

J. H. OBRIEN. 

